Family of Two
by Bolinlover123
Summary: For so long, Lin has always wanted to be just like her mother. Everyone knew who the Beifong mother and daughter were. They were a legend, a duo of dynamite. Forces to be reckoned with that challenged the very foundation of the Earth. But they were also a family. A family of two. Soon, Lin will come to realize that even heroes are human, as a father she never knew finally returns.
1. Chapter 1-Innocence is Bliss

Lin is three years old when she draws Toph their first family picture; the toddler's crayons all smudged and cracked from the onslaught of bows that she giggles she had to draw in Mommy's hair, the pink clay forever staining the once-spotless rug that no one cares about. Granted, Lin knew Toph could not see her artwork, and was well aware of her mother's blindness. But when she coos at her mother to "look" at her creation, her pudgy fingers wrapping around her mother's wrist to place Toph's delicate sensors on the crinkling parchment; Toph only feels _two_ stick-like figures resting there- and something twists in her gut.

"See!" Lin exclaims with joy as she presses Toph's hand to the paper, "This is me," and she slides her mother's hand two inches to the right, "and this is you, Mommy!"

Toph swallows; a memory of pain- or a lack of it- making her throat burn.

"That's great, sweetie," she replies warily, hearing her daughter's heart beat with hopeful admiration, "What's it for?"

"It's for you, siwwy!" Lin laughs, her "w's" being her most common pronunciation, "It's our famiwy pictwre! This is you, and this is me!"

And for one second-for one vulnerable, helpless second- Toph almost tells her the picture is missing someone.

But she stops herself in time, hearing the mirth and innocent ignorance in her daughter's voice.

That certain someone doesn't deserve to be remembered.

A family of two.

And Toph doesn't know whether she should be proud, or ashamed at her little girl's surmise of the meaning of family.

Isn't this life what she had tried so hard to create for Lin; to shield her from the truth?

Yes, Toph concludes, that the picture is perfect just the way it is.

So finally, she says, "It's beautiful, sweetie; I felt every single bow."

Lin will understand when she's older.

Toph just hopes "older" is a long time from now.

* * *

Lin is ten, and it's the first time she sees the strange man who will be a cause of many problems to come later in her life; even if it's only the first out of the only two times she will ever come in contact with him.

She cautiously emerges out of her room where she is reading a book, to hear her mother and a grisly, angered looking man, with green eyes and a greasy beard, arguing like moose-lion in the entryway. She knows her mother could sence her if she wasn't so preoccupied with screaming at this man, who looks like a giant, yet who amazingly has a nose just like hers, and the same shade of hair...

And somehow...she feels as if this man is very significant to her and her mother; yet she can't understand why, because any person who is making her mother this enraged deserves a rock to the face. It dumfounds her how her mother, in all her blunt, brash, violent, rock-slaming glory, has not kicked this dunderhead out yet.

As quietly as she can, Lin climbs on top of a kitchen counter, so her mother can not feel her watching them from just outside the hallway.

She listens.

She strains her ears, and waits; listens just like her mother taught her to.

"...How _dare_ you!" Her mother's fiery voice, "It's been_ ten_ years, Setti! You didn't care about her then, and now you suddenly have the nerve to show up here after all this time, saying you want to see her!?"

Lin feels through the earth as the man blinks and stutters, "Toph, p-please let me explain! I-"

"-_Explain?_ Explain what, Setti?!" Her mother fumes, the earth rumbling, "You left us! You left me all alone when you found out! I thought what we had was special, and as soon as I tell you, you run off like a _coward_ and don't contact me for three years, and then again now you weasel your way back to me! What do you want from me? Do you want my sympathy, my forgiveness!? Because I can tell you now, you'll be getting nothing from me!"

Lin gasps. Who was this man? What in the world did he do to her mother, and who was this "she" they were referring to? Her mother was always so strong and sure and independent- never this emotional, voice wavering so much that Lin fears her mother might start crying.

Lin wishes she could go intervene and chuck a rock at the man for even making her mother feel hurt, but she knows she must stay hidden.

She continues to listen on.

"Please, Toph, I know I have hurt you, and I am truly sorry!" The man's face shows regret, remorse. He stretches out his hands as if to embrace her mother's cheek, but Toph, already predicting his actions, steps back, out of reach. The man-Setti- flinches from this cold response, "But I am a changed man-I am totally committed to you both now and I-"

"_-No_! I don't care what you say! We don't need you; I have taken care of Lin for ten years and I am doing a damn fine job without you! You won't have me crawling back! And guess what, Setti?"

The man visibly swallows, face blanching in pure hurt, "She has no idea you even exist," Toph retorts,"and I want to keep it that way." Lin hears her mother's voice so flat, so cold, and unlike the loving mother that she knows; she shivers.

"Toph, darling, sweetie, please...just give me one more chance! Let me make it up to you, let me see her! It must be so hard doing this all by yourself; you must be so lonely and tired with you job and taking care of her."

A snarl comes out of her mother's mouth: "_Get out._"

The door slams so loud she can feel the earth beneath her tremble.

Lin freezes on top the cabinet, fear at having her mother sence her eavesdropping, threatening to consume her.

She watches Toph from the bend in the hallway, the mother heaving out a huge, exhausted sigh. Toph's mouth twitching, fighting to control her emotions, yet Lin can see her blind eyes starting to become red.

Toph scrubs her hands across her face. Then she goes still, straining her ears; waiting, listening.

"Lin?" she calls, "Lin, are you here, honey? It's okay if you are. I won't be mad at you."

Lin doesn't dare to breathe. She tenses every muscle, fighting any sound that would reach her mother's heightened ears.

Toph's face crumbles then, a pained noise escaping her mouth.

Yet, Lin can't help but notice relief- total, pure, relief that her mother doesn't think she is home to have heard the argument and seen the awful stranger- cross Toph's features.

A few, dreadful silent seconds passing is the only thing making her heartbeat sound like a drum in her chest.

She hates having to lie to her mom, but it's for the best. Whoever this man is, her mother obviously doesn't want her to know about him. So for her mother's own sake, Lin will lie this once.

Even though, she _will_ find out who the man is. She will track him down if she has to. When she is older, though. Not now.

"Hmmmm..." her mother muses, "She must've gone to see Twinkletoes and Sugarqueen junior...Thank the Spirits..."

Lin listens as her mother goes upstairs, and then she slings out of the kitchen and out the back door before anyone has time to even know she was ever there.

* * *

Her mother doesn't go to work that night.

By the time dinner is supposed to be ready, it's dark out and her mother has yet to come out of her room.

Lin can hear muffled sobs from behind the door.

She thinks her mother should never cry for a stupid man, since Toph has practically preached to her that boys are one of the stupidest creatures the Spirits have ever created. She keeps replying every time that her ten-year old self very much so believes in cooties, and that her mother doesn't have to worry about stupid boys, because she has sent more than half of the ones in her class to the nurse this year.

Trying to make her mother feel better, she decides to make Toph her favorite dinner; steamed ostrich-horse dumpling with ginger and spinach-rice noodles. It's the least she could do. Uncle Sokka has taught her how to make it enough times when Toph has late night-shifts and comes home late; a ball of tired and grumpy and hungry.

Preparing the meal only takes about a half hour, and then she arranges it all on the plate that Toph herself sculpted. She finishes off the meal with a cold glass of leechi juice sitting beside it on a tray, and she proceeds with caution up the stairs to what very well might be an earthquake waiting to happen.

Lin finds herself gulping, knocking on the door with a tightening in her chest, fearing her mother's tears.

"Mom?"

The crying instantly silences.

She tires again. "Mommy, it's me! I-I made you dinner! Your favorite osritch-horse dumplings, just like Uncle Sokka taught me. Can I come in?"

Lin tries very hard not to count the silent seconds.

"Mommy?"

A nose sniffling: ""L-lin? Lin, baby, is that you? Oh, I'm so sorry, baby, come in!"

Pushing open the door, she finds tissues more abruptly splayed all over than sand in the Ba Sing Sa desert.

A piece of paper is crinkling in her mother's grip, as Toph repeatedly rubs her fingers over the surface: a childish doodle of two stick-figures, one having with what Lin can only guess to be pink bows in the bigger figure's hair.

"Here, Mommy. How're feeling?" She places the tray of food on her mother's lap, as Toph motions for her to sit down beside her.

"Oh, I'm fine, Rocky. Momma just has a little cold." Toph waves her hand nonchalantly, but Lin can see through her facade. "And thank you! Oh, you made this all for me? I knew there was a reason I loved you!"

Lin laughs as Toph rubs her nose against her's, leaving a big kiss.

"So you're okay? You made me worried when you didn't go to work today!" Lin's too afraid to ask about the man, so she thinks maybe trying to indirectly get her mother to tell is the better way.

"Yep, totally! A little cold's nothing your Mamma can't handle!"

Feeling the love of this moment swell her heart, Lin feels maybe she can bring up the man another night.

Another night she will ask. When her mother is ready. But not tonight. Tonight she thinks all she wants is to spend time with her mom and erase any sadness she can.

"Come here, Rocky." Her mother murmurs, and Lin settles beside her in the bed, her head resting on Toph's shoulder. "Remember when you made this? You were so cute! You insisted you draw eight-not seven, not nine- but eight pink bows in my hair. I never knew you why you liked the number eight so much. But you were so excited to let me feel what you made! Oh, I love you so much, baby..."

"I love you, too, Mommy..."

Toph picks up two dumplings, handing one to her, and stuffing the other in her own mouth.

Lin listens to her mother chew and exclaim, "Emmmmmmm...You really are great at making these dumplings, kiddo. Maybe when you're older you can own a restaurant," her mother half jokes. "_Beifong's Dumplings_"

"Nah, they're not special if I make them for everybody!" Lin tells her with a giggle.

"True. Only I should get the honor!"

"Mommy..."

"Okay, okay...I'm just teasing, kiddo."

Toph twists some noodles around her chopsticks, letting out a delicate slurp.

"Mommy?"

"Emmmhmmmm?" Her mother chews and swallows.

Despite what she wanted to conceal for a later date, Lin finds no fault in at least making sure to erase the bud of doubt starting to form in her.

"We're the best family ever, aren't we? All we need is each other, right?"

Toph's face betrays something for a moment, and for a split-second, she looks away from her daughter, and Lin knows that her mother knows that _she_ knows about the man.

Lin won't realize until years later what the quickened tempo of someone's heart really means.

But Toph looks back at her with a smile again and doesn't say anything; all tracings of secret pains and lingering men that she tries to hide and lie about- gone.

"You bet we are, kiddo! The best! All we need is each other!"

And Lin knows at that moment, she doesn't care what's the truth or what are the lies. Those are the only words she ever needs to hear.

Because all she ever needs is her mother.

"I wanna be just like you one day..."

* * *

Coming the arrival of her fourteenth birthday, she is watching Tenzin freak out more and more as the day that he will get his Tattoos-deeming him a Master Airbender- draws nearer. Uncle Aang will not stop talking about the honorable- although in Tenzin's words, "nerve-racking, needle prickling"- event every second of the day, to anyone who's unfortunate enough to be in range.

So her light-footed best friend practically begs her to come up with an excuse to get Aang-because Aang loves her and she has yet to do anything that would require scolding- to let him leave the Island, and go into the City with her.

She finds Tenzin's dorky anxiety a bit cute. Lately, she is finding everything about her Airbender best friend to be more and more endearing, and she doesn't at all mind the more time she spends with him...

She doesn't know what's wrong with her, because just about a year ago, hadn't she, cringing along side her mother, agreed with her that boys had brains the size of pebbles and hearts more slippery than the sand under banger-moles?

Well, becoming fourteen was shaping up to be quite... _odd?_

Where had these feelings come from? It wasn't as if she lifted a rock and found all these bizarre emotions hiding underneath...

But, also lately...she has been realizing and wondering things she has never known she's been missing...

Like, such as, that evening when Tenzin and she arrive home from the City-miraculously being granted freedom from the Island-why had feelings of pain, jealousy, along with a twist of nausea, formed in her at the sight of seeing Aang and Kaya siting together on the front porch outside the kitchen? She had seen Kaya and Aang sit together many times in the past- as well as with Bumi and Tenzin.

But, somehow...this time...was _different_...

She could not figure out why.

As she and Tenzin approach the Island, she had watched as Kaya was sitting there in her father's embrace, head resting on his shoulder like she always does with her own mother. Tears running from Kaya's eyes, and gaining kisses to her forehead from her father's lips, and kind, comforting, soft, murmurs of, "_Shhhh...Shhh, baby, girl, it's alright...Daddy's here, Daddy's here...tell me what happened..."_

_Daddy's here..._

Lin freezes in place. Pain spreading in her chest, and for some reason she feels the urge to cry.

But why, why, _why_...?

_This is nothing new_, she tries to calm herself, _this is just Kaya and her dad, just like they've always been...Stop freaking out, Lin. You've seen them both all your life. Spirits, you're going crazy..._

"I love you, Daddy..." She hears Kaya say, as if from outside her own body, and the inevitable response of:

"I love you, too, baby girl..."

She can't talk. Her hands have began to shake. Her throat is dry.

It comes on suddenly: so suddenly that she feels the earth beneath her feet turn to dust.

The memory hits her hard and fast with a wisp of pain.

She is a scared ten-year old girl again, trembling on the kitchen cabinet so her mother can't sence her, praying not to be found. Wanting to know who this horrible man is and what he wants with her mother.

She isn't seeing the Air Temple now...

She is seeing a man, a stupid, cold-hearted man, arguing with her mother at her front door years ago, as she tries to listen and stay hidden. A grisly, angered looking man, with green eyes and a greasy beard, and with the same nose and hair as her...

She remembers the man looking so hurt, yet manipulative and unable to redeem himself all at the same time.

_"-_Explain?_ Explain what, Setti?! You left us! It's been _ten years!_ You left me all alone when you found out! I thought what we had was special, and as soon as I tell you, you run off like a_ coward_ and don't contact me for three years, and then again now you weasel your way back to me!"_

No contact for ten years...

She was ten when the man came that day...

Ran off like a coward when her mother told him the news...

What news?

_"Please, Toph, I know I have hurt you, and I am truly sorry! But I am a changed man-I am totally committed to you both now and I-"_

_"No! I don't care what you say! We don't need you; I have taken care of Lin for ten years and I am doing a damn fine job without you! You won't have me crawling back! And guess what, Setti?"_

He had hurt her.

But how?

He said he was committed to "us" both again then?

Who were "us"?

_"We don't need you; I have taken care of Lin for ten years and I am doing a damn fine job without you!"_

Taken care of Lin without you.

Without you.

_We don't need you._

... "Us"meaning her mother and her...

"She" meaning herself...

Oh, Spirits! Oh, _Spirits_, no...

It couldn't be...

Lin began feeling sick. So, so sick with a horrible truth.

How had she not realized it before when the truth had been right in her face?

Her stomach churned; she shut her eyes tight, her hand clamped over her mouth.

"Lin?" Tenzin asks with worry in his voice, a hand on her shoulder, "Lin, you look sick. Are you alright?"

She want's to respond.

But she can't.

Because she isn't with Tenzin.

She is ten and-

_"And guess what, Setti? She has no idea you even exist; and I want to keep it that way."_

_No idea you even exist._

_No idea._

_I want to keep it that way._

_"_Lin!" Tenzin is screaming, "Snap out of it! Say Something! Are you okay?"

In an instant, she crumples in on herself, hands clenching her abdomen.

She gasps and cringes to the side, away from her friend, letting all the vomit pour out.

Everything she ate that day, all coming out, putrid and burning.

Tears; she is crying.

Tears are coming down her face.

Her mother lied to her.

Lied.

She had decided not to ask her mother that day about who the man had been; had thought that if her mother wanted her to know, she would tell her. And over time, over the years, she had simply forgotten about him.

_You can't miss what you never had._

_You can't miss what you don't even know __**exists.**_

Her mother's fiery rage, _"Get out."_

The door slamming, rattling the cabinets.

Then the exhaustion and the crying all night.

Her mother had lied.

She knew who the man was now.

She heaves as another round of puke spills out, and subsides.

She breathes heavy and wipes her tears away, finding Tenzin behind her, rubbing her back, soothing, "Shhhh...It's okay, Lin. Calm down..."

This couldn't be possible.

How had this happened and she not known about it? How had she been so oblivious?

Everyone had mothers _and_ fathers.

_Both._

_Two_ parents.

But she only had a mother.

Why?

She hadn't realized anything wrong with it, or questioned it... untill now.

"What?" Tenzin asks, worry in his eyes, "What man, Lin? Why do you keep saying the name "Setti"? Who's this "Setti" person?"

She swallows back acid and betrayal. "D-d-daddy..." she whispers.

Tenzin's blue eyes go wide, his face paling, "What...? What did you say...? Lin, I think you're sick..."

"No." She shakes her head, "The man. He came to our house that day. _Setti_. "

"And who is Setti?" Tenzin asks her in a quiet voice, dripping concern.

"He's my father."

* * *

_Let me know what you guys think! To be continued soon! :)_


	2. Chapter 2- Truth Reveled

_He drops his suitcase by the door  
She knows her daddy won't be back anymore  
She drags her feet across the floor  
Try'na hold back time to keep him holding on  
And she says_

_Daddy Daddy don't leave_  
_I'll do anything to keep you_  
_Right here with me_  
_Can't you see how much I need you?_

_"Daddy's little girl" Frankie J._

* * *

The next day, a week before her fourteenth birthday, she wants the truth.

Lin _needs_ the truth. She can't take it anymore.

It's a Tuesday, meaning- that is, if Lin can correctly read these new inventions brought to the city called "clocks" -that her mother has the morning shift from six in the morning, to noon. So, despite getting no sleep last night due to what is to come, Lin gets herself up at five; a plan in her mind to reveal a truth more bitter than the coffee she painstaking brews for her mother, to make sure Toph is as alert as possible for this discussion.

Lin impatiently glances at the clock every two seconds, hoping the overwhelming grease and cheese aroma from the breakfast dumplings will waft up to her mother's room and rouse her out of bed sooner.

Five minutes later, and Lin can still hear snoring muffled by a feather-pillow.

_She's going to be late for work again_, Lin thinks, _and I can't wait all day for this or I'm going to go crazy! I have to know now!_

Lin groans with annoyance, and flings open a cabinet where the biggest pots are stored. Purposely clanging pots together with the grace of a moose-lion, proves to be the force that dared to wake her mother.

The snoring stops.

Her mother's bedroom door flings open with enough force that the earth cries underneath her bare-feet.

Normally the metal-on- metal contact of the pans would sooth Lin. But now, all it does it cause her mother's footsteps to sound rushed with annoyance as she descends down the stairs, and Lin can't help but fear she's made the wrong choice.

Her mother, all slow-voiced and crusty-eyed with the spell of sleep, slumps her way into the kitchen, with more confusion showing on her face than Lin would like. Actually, Lin had hoped her mother would be smiling through her sleepy dase, and thank her for the meal, sitting down with her before she does off to the Police Station.

But that's not what happens.

"Lin, what in Spirits are you doing up at this hour making a racket?" Her mother exclaimed, hands on her hips, "I was having a really nice dream! And even I can tell that the sun probably still isn't up yet!"

A grimace twists Lin's face. _Uh oh._ This wasn't how Lin had planned this to go...

Panic starts to bud in her stomach. She starts to lose her nerve.

But she _has_ to know.

She takes a deep breath. "Mom, I-"

"-Is..." Toph's face scrunches up, her head turning to the stove, "...is something _burning?"_

Lin gasps and lunges for the stove, fiercely turning the burner off.

"No! Your dumplings!" Lin yells and wraps a towel around the handle, quickly scraping the charred remains of eggs and wheat shells into the garbage.

"Careful! Don't burn yourself." Toph warns with concern.

Lin fights back tears, can feel the back of her throat constrict. She had planned this so well! How had it gone so wrong?

Fed up with it all, Lin flings the pot and spoon in the sink, spraying water on her shirt front.

Toph, automatically sensing her daughter's distress, gently turns her around and grasps her hand, "Rocky, tell me what's wrong, sweetie."

"Nothing." Lin sniffles, grateful, for the first time in her life, that her mother cannot see her face, "I'm fine, Momma."

"Lin..." her mother gives a warning tone, yet her face softens, "Baby, don't say it's nothing. I can tell. Tell Momma what it is."

"I wanted to make you breakfast before you went to work today..." Lin mumbles, only half of the truth escaping her lips.

Toph frowns, "Oh, you thought I had the morning shift today? Baby, today is _Monday_, not Tuesday...I don't have work untill eight tonight."

Toph senses her daughter's feelings of stupidity, hearing Lin groan.

"But it's the summer," Toph continues to try to cheer her daughter up, "So I can see how you wouldn't want to keep track..."

"Yeah," Lin mumbles, head down, eyes stinging, "Silly me. Woke you up for nothing." Her hands clench into fists that her mother cannot see, " Well, I guess you want to go back to bed now, huh?"

How can she ask for the truth now, when she messed up her plan? Another day, she thinks. She_ can't_ do this now anymore, she_ can't-_

"No, it wasn't for nothing. I know you had a reason for getting up this early." gentle, yet strong hands are placed on her shoulders. "So, tell me the real reason, okay? I won't be mad, kiddo."

Lin looks up, "...You promise?"

Toph holds up her hand, palm up, "Momma's honor."

Lin swallows and tries to muster up some strength. She heaves a big breath and looks straight at her mother, "Okay, I'll tell you."

"Okay."

"Do you remember a few years ago-I was about ten and..." she trails off.

She can't do this. She doesn't want to know anymore. She's not strong enough. She-

"And what, sweetie?" Her mother asks.

"And a man came to our house." Lin can't stop herself, "You were arguing with him. You said he..." Lin bit her lip, and tried to stay calm, "You said that he had hurt you, and then left you like a cowered when you told him some news."

Toph stares at her; Toph's face pinched, yet she doesn't move or say a word.

Lin can feel her mother's heartbeat start to quicken.

She continues,"You said he hadn't contacted you for ten years and now he finally showed up...and- and when he said he wanted to see me, you _yelled_ at him and said you...didn't need him."

Toph's face visibly pales, her throat swallowing what Lin can see is the first sign of tears.

But still, she says nothing.

Lin feels something twist in her gut, her voice coming out high and thin, eyes beginning to water. "You said you were doing a fine job _raising me with without him. _You called him 'Setti' You told him I had no idea he even _existed_ and wanted to keep it that way."

She feels as if she's ran a mile by how breathless she is after finally revealing this truth.

"Do you remember that?"

Her mother looks stricken and surprised, her delicate eyebrows up in shock. Yet still, Toph does not reply.

"No?" Despite herself, a bitter laugh comes from her lips, shocking even herself. This causes Toph to look like a wounded animal, but she can't bring herself to regret it. "_Well, I do."_

Lin continues now, in too deep to stop at this point. "I was too young then to put two and two together. I hadn't even questioned or realized there was something wrong with being raised by a single mother untill recently. _You can't miss what you don't even know exists._" Toph's face hardens, mouth thinning, and Lin finds herself shivering, "But now I _understand, _now I know the _truth_. I'm sorry I lied to you about knowing about him. I had been confused and afraid then. But now, I'm almost fourteen and I have to _know_."

"_Know what, Lin?"_ her mother's voice is hard and quiet, no feeling but bitterness laced in it.

Lin gulps and counts the seconds by her heartbeat.

Sometimes, the truth does not set you free; only hurts you more. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss

"That man. Setti. _Was he my father?"_

Toph's face betrays something, yet Lin can't tell what. Lin's hands begin to tremble, her fingernails digging into her palms.

Somewhere, she can sense an earthquake, but inside, all that is shattering is her heart.

"Don't just stand there." Lin whispers. Her mother's passive face sending shivers through her.

Then Lin explodes. All the feelings of hurt and betrayal and abandonment come up from her stomach and out of her mouth in a scream:

_"Say something- ANYTHING! He was my father, wasn't he? He was my father and he didn't want me!"_

Still Toph doesn't speak, face towered the floor as if in defeat.

The quickened heartbeat and heavy breathing she can sense from her mother are the only indications that Toph is being affected by this, and it _unnerves_ her.

Then, suddenly, Lin brings her foot up, and smashes it into the ground, causing the floor to rumble, and a tea cup to roll out of a cubby and crush to pieces.

"_Did__ you even want me, huh? Am I even your real daughter, or did you adopt me?! ANSWER ME! If you love me at all, answer me, now!"_

_"OF COURSE I LOVE YOU! HOW CAN YOU EVEN DOUBT THAT!?"_ her mother screams back, tears pouring from her blind eyes, voice wavering, "I love you more than life itself, sweetheart...I-I just...I wanted to _protect_ you and keep you safe and..."

"Then please. Please answer the question." Tears start to sting her eyes, "_Was that man, Setti, my father?"_

Toph closes her eyes as more tears pool from them. "_Yes."_ She whispers, "Yes. You're right. He was. He_ is._"

"_Then why-"_

"-Please. No, Lin, baby, please. Let's just sit down on the couch and talk about this calmly and nicely. I don't want us screaming at each other. I don't want us saying anything we'll regret...I'll answer anything you want to know...Let's just...sit down...Please, sweetie?"

Heart beats count the silent seconds.

Thirteen years of lies reflect back at her from pale eyes.

...

"Fine. Okay. Let's sit down."

* * *

And mother and daughter trudge their way into the living room that feels anything but lively.

"Before I begin my story," her mother tires, "you need to know something. I love you so, so much. I have loved you since the moment I knew you were inside me and would be mine. I never, ever, once regretted having you, or raising you on my own, alright? You have to know that for me. You believe me, don't you?"

"I do believe you. Then why didn't _he_ want me, too? Did he..." and an ugly, horrible word and meaning comes into Lin's mind. A word meaning "hurt" and "forced" and against her mother's will. A word meaning all the horrible things that men can do to women and girls to take advantage of them, and the reason that her mother had made her take self-defense classes to avoid at all costs, to protect herself from being victim to in back alleys in the dead of night. She is fourteen, but she knows what can happen if she isn't careful.

Yet, she can't bring herself to say that ugly, horrible word. So, instead she says, "Did he, _hurt you,_ mom? Did he_ use you_, and that's how I...that's how I...?"

Toph looks at her daughter, and holds her hands tight. "Partially, yes. But I never once regretted it. _Spirits_, you're not even fourteen yet! I shouldn't be telling you this! I promised myself I wouldn't tell you until you were older! I'm so, so, sorry you had to find out this way, Lin! I wish you had never seen him that day!"

Lin takes a deep breath. "So tell me how you met him."

"Wait a minute. Secondly, what have I always told you about boys?"

"That they are stupid and don't know what they are doing and are more slippery than sand, so never date until your older and on the bridge of becoming a crazy platipus-bear lady!"

"Right! Exactly, I-_wait._ I never said that last part..." Toph says, confused.

"Uncle Sokka told me that."

"Psh. The sounds like Snoozles. I should have known."

"Anyway, I want to know about him. Tell me how you met." Lin presses.

"Okay. Alright. Well...I was twenty-seven and it was my second year as Cheif of Police. He-Setti- was one of my Officers and-"

Lin cuts her off, "He could metal bend, too?! You were his boss?!"

"Yes. Now, hush."

" I know this is going to sound...very lame. But I was twenty-seven and had _never_ had a boyfriend before- you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes, I think."

"Okay. But what I am about to tell you, never tell anyone, alright? Not even, Tenzin or Kaya or Bumi or Auntie Katara. Do not fallow in my footsteps for what I am about to say, Lin. Do as I say, not as I do. Promise."

"I promise, Momma."

Toph sighs, bitter memories gripping her, " I was young and It was Valentine's Day. I was lonely and had never dated before. I thought guys thought I was ugly for my blindness and lack of girlie-girlness. But mostly, I had promised myself that my job came first. I was the Cheif of Police, friend of the Avatar, had recently in past years, been a member of the City Council. I knew who I was and what was important to me. I didn't need a man in my life for me to feel complete. I had my friends and my job and I was happy."

"So I made you unhappy." Lin says quietly.

"No! No, sweetie! Were you listening to what I was saying?" Toph embraces her daughter for a hug and strokes her hair, " You are the reason I am so happy! I love you so,so much. I don't want you to ever think otherwise."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I just want you to understand. I don't know why, but I was vulnerable that day. I hadn't spoken to or seen my parents since I was a girl, and had recently been notified of my father's death. It was Valentine's Day and all my friends were with their spouses, doing something romantic. I was lonely and a bit depressed. I stayed at the Station later that night when everyone else went home, just doing paperwork. But then he came in-Setti. He told me it was a shame a beautiful women like me was lonely on such a night. I'm not one for melting from the words of a charmer, but his voice was so sweet, and his motives seemed sincere. He had asked me out to dinner that night at his house, and for some reason, I agreed..."

"Then what..."

"Oh, baby...I really shouldn't be telling you this. You're so young!"

"No! You promised! Tell me now! If you don't, I'll go ask Sokka or Katara or Aang!"

Toph sighed warily. "We had a great time. We laughed, we talked, we ate. He was very funny..." Lin cleared her throat and her face hardened, "But he was a weasel-snake in a lemur's clothing. He was a retched man, a coward. I drank. I drank a lot that night. I never usually did and I thought I would be fine. I was gitty and hyper and vulnerable. The next thing I remember was waking up and feeling _horrible_ and pain all over me. I was in his bed and I couldn't sense him in the house. I was confused and hurt all over and I just got dressed and went straight home."

Lin can see tears coming out of her mother's eyes.

"I don't want that to ever happen to you, sweetie. The only reason I don't regret it, was because it gave me you. I was depressed. I felt disgusting. I couldn't believe I let that happen to me. I stayed in my house and didn't go to work for two weeks. I didn't answer calls or patrols. I wanted no one to see me, I was so ashamed." Toph fiercely scrubbed at her face, "It-it wasn't until Aang and Katara came to my house three weeks later that I told them. They were concerned and could see I was a wreck. Aang was so mad when he found out...he went into the Avatar State. They stayed with me while I cried. Katara stayed over with me that night, and the next day, she took me to the doctors to see if I was alright. They told me I was pregnant."

Lin was speechless. "Mommy..."

"Shhh...it's okay, baby. I love you. I love you, so, so, so much."

"Mommy...I look like him, more than I look like you."

"Shhhh...It doesn't matter. You are my daughter and you are beautiful. When I finally returned to work, I called him into my office. He asked me how the date was. I told him I was pregnant. He was shocked. He didn't believe me. I bent him into the wall and started screaming at him. He told me not to worry because there were plenty of orphanages around. I told him it was _our_ baby we would have to _raise_. He denied it being his. He denied everything. I fired him on the spot and we got into a bending fight. I threatened to put him in jail. The others had to break us up. I told him to get lost before I filed a Lawsuit and arrested him. He ran out and I never heard from him again. Until that day."

"Momma...you're the best mother ever. I love you so much. I'm sorry I was mad at you. I'm sorry I never told you that I knew. I- please forgive me, I-"

"Shhhh, sweetheart...Lin, look at me. There is nothing to forgive, you did nothing wrong. I don't need seeing eyes to be able to know how beautiful you are. It doesn't matter what happend-how you were given to me, does not define you. My love for you defines who you are."

"I am Lin Beifong." Lin says with flickering irises, "I know who I am."

"_That's_ my strong, independent, beautiful little girl! Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise. You can do _anything."_

"I know I can. I just wish I knew why...why he didn't love me..."

"Shhhh, Lin, please don't think about it anymore. I really wish you found out when you were older. My love for you is greater than anyone's. You are not my curse, Lin. You are my blessing. You are my _blessing._ The Spirit's gave me you for a reason."

"And they gave me you. The best mother in the world," Lin says, her head buried in her mother chest. "We're the best family _ever."_


	3. Chapter 3- You don't Exist

_Sorry, for a short chapter, guys! Tell me what you think. Promise the next one will be long and multiple parts. ;)_

* * *

She's seventeen when she sees _him_ again.

Or, more so, they see_ each other._

This time, in the heat of summer, with dirt-crusted feet and wrapped knuckles, she makes her way past her mother's Earthbending Academy in the rich part of town.

He is there in training gear, now with a graying beard and tired, wrinkled-lined eyes, but she would remember that face anywhere.

She looks to the lines of students in front of him as he demonstrates the basic breathing exercises of Metelbending that she had mastered at age thirteen. Some pupil's heads tilt in thought, others have set faces, eyes locked in determined awe as he breathes and focuses. Tremors write a patter on her feet as she sees the metal blocks shifting and changing shape to the every bend of his arm and stamp of his foot, and _Wow, Sufi Setti, show me, show me! That's so cool,_ _do it again!_

_He was a weasel-snake in lemur's clothing..._

As she grasps the bars of the gates lining the school with white knuckles, she tries to imagine him teaching her these things and saying something like, _Good job, kiddo_, with a hair ruffle and slap on the back.

But it's her mother's face she always sees.

A young boy at the front of the line walks up to the first mental block. He takes a deep breath, eyes closed, and face set, as the block slowly beings to float in the air. With a bend of his arm, the block slices into two thin sheets, and then he does a sharp upper cut, and the sheets fly until they make contact with the wall, and crash to the ground, the earth vibrating.

The boy smiles and cheers. _He _comes up and pats the boy on the head with a prideful grin.

"Very good, Tuppa! Great job!"

_Very good, Lin! 'Atta girl, I knew you could do it!_

_Thank's, Mommy!_

Tuppa bows, "Thank you, Sifu Setti!"

Something breaks inside her. The bars enclosed in her fingers, morph in her tightened grip. No breathing needed.

The boy looks in her direction, eyes curious.

"Sifu, who's that?"

All eyes turn to her.

She pales, feels her throat close up.

His eyes go wide, deep wrinkles between furrowed brows, mouth open in a way that makes him seem like he has seen a Spirit.

_"...T-toph?"_

But no, he seems to realize a second later that the green in her eyes are seeing-_looking right at him_- and her hair is short and framing her face instead of wild locks hanging down. With a sturdy nose very much like his, and the same shade of hair...

He swallows, and breathes out the one syllable in a way that she thinks pain is supposed to sound.

_"Lin...?"_

She backs off the bars, walking backward, shaking her head in a stunned silence.

"LIN! No, please!" he starts coming towered her, all long legs and big strides, " Lin, _please,_ let me explain! Please, Lin, let me-"

The next thing she hears is silence, because the rocks she's buried him under have knocked him out.

_"That was for my mother."_

And she spins on her heals, and walks away in a earth-rumbling huff, before he can wake up and tell she was _even there._

Because you can't miss what you don't even know exists.


	4. Chapter 4- Of Spring and Mischief

She barges into the house, slamming the door so hard she can feel the Earth beneath her shake.

"Lin, honey?" Toph calls from where she is folding laundry in the living room,"Are you alright?"

"Peachy," she mumbles, "And how are you, mother? Visited the Metalbending Academy lately?" One could be deaf and not miss the bitterness dripping from the young girl's words.

Toph straightens up, "You don't sound happy. What happened?"

"How could you keep lying to me, Mom? After what we talked about?" her voice is shrill and pinched with anger,"You promised me that he left! How could you lie to me and say he's gone, when he's right here in the City, working at the Academy?!"

Lin can see the color visibly leave Toph's face. Toph mutters something under her breath that sounds like a curse, and exclaims, "Lin, I swear to you that I had no idea! I have kept absolutely_ no_ contact with him, and have not talked with him since that day he came to our house. You have to believe me when I say this, please."

Lin sputters, throwing up her hands, "So I guess it's just a damn coincidence that he works at the _same_ place you do?"

"Don't use that tone of voice with me, young lady," Toph comes over, "If he is working there, then it must have been recently, because I have not been aware of it. An unfortunate coincidence, yes, but a true one, Lin.

"Yeah," Lin scoffs, "because coincidences happen all the time-just like accidents, and mistakes. One little second you slip up, and the next thing you know,-_'Bam'_!-you're pregnant!"

If Toph's eyes could see, they would have blazed fire.

"Alright, Lin, that is enough! You are everything to me," she exclaims, throwing down the towel, "and I have told you over and over, how much I love you. There is not _one second_ I regret having you, and you need to realize how lucky you are."

"_Lucky?_" she snaps, "How am I lucky? My own father didn't want me, my mother is blind, and I was conceived by an unwanted, drunken one night stand! Don't tell me you never wanted to give me away to an orphanage or something! Don't tell me that every time you felt me inside you, that it made you think of_ him,_ and that I was a _part_ of him!"

"_Lin..." _and she can tell by the way Toph's voice cracks, and how she swallows that it's the first signs of crying, "No, baby, listen to me. I love you. I never, ever wanted to give you away. You never made me think of him." Toph reaches her hand out to her, but Lin shrugs it off.

Lin tries to scrub the salt tracks racing down her cheeks, but it's no use. "Really? I never made you think of him? Well then, tell me why I look like him! I look like him way more than I do you, but you can't even tell anyway! Maybe it's better that you can't see my face, because then you'd really be reminded of him!"

_"Lin..."_

"No! Just forget it! Just leave me alone!" she cries, and races up the stares to her bedroom, locking the door.

It's the first night in many that Lin wishes that she herself was blind as well.

* * *

One month later, she gets her scars.

Her mother tells her that it's whats on the inside that counts, and if they don't respect that, they are the biggest lily-lived dunder-heads in all the Four Nations put together.

It was supposed to be an easy fix, nothing she hadn't been trained to deal with before. And being the Legendary Cheif Bei Fong's daughter didn't hurt her reputation either, with being the second youngest person ever to master Metalbending, and being an officer.

Simply put, as a seventeen year-old officer, she was very well respected and admired. Always getting the job done and putting crooks where they needed to be.

So it surprised everyone when the accident happened. Things got way out of hand, far too quickly.

It was the Spring Solstice, the time when everyone with a speck of dirt in their blood comes to gather and celebrate the Earth Kingdom traditions.

The Spring Solstice bringing back memories of shimmering greens and yellows; children's laughter and eagerness for their parents to let them stay up extra late to listen to stories about their childhood back home, whispering in souls and up through the pulsing ground like heartbeats. The streets littered with ribbons that waved like grass in the wind; bean curd puffs sold on every corner, children's mouths sticky with pau buns, their laughter echoing for all to hear. Rocks bent into dazzling sculptures, Kyoshi warriors coming to put on parades with twisting fans and glowing paint, marching down the blocks that could be seen for miles.

It was a day not to be missed.

Especially by the Traids.

Her mother gets a call about chaos involving Red Monsoons and Agni Kais intervening on the day's activities on the corner of Bagermole Ave. and Flying Boar St.

Toph tells her it's too chaotic down there;_Too many people, who know's what could happen. You're only seventeen, Lin_.

_I've learnt from the best._

She's bent her full armor on her before Toph is even out the door, and she's in the back of Toph's car before her mother can protest again.

_How did you get so stubborn?_

_I've learnt from the best._

A little laugh and a smug smile, _Just be careful, Rocky. These guys are more slippery than sand between your fingers._

_I'll be fine, Mom._

They get down to the scene to see a mob a green eyes fleeing in all directions. Some rocks from civilians are being bent and used in defense, but the officers send the people back with barks of orders to_ please stay back, please evacuate the scene, _and before one patch of street can be seen through the packed, panicking crowd, a stand erupts in flames.

Then another.

And another.

A whole row of lighter fluid gone ablaze from a trio of Agni Kias. One saying, _Hey, my Gran Gran was a_ _mud-slinger. Seems rude that I ain't invited, huh, fellas?_ He turns to the other two, who show razer-sharp smiles and lightning-fueled eyes.

_Let's get this celebration started!_

Fiery eruptions send people to the ground, and shatter the street like Earthquakes as they go off.

The police move in, only to be bombarded by an onslaught of razer-tipped icicles flying through the air.

The ground gets coated in a think sheet of black ice, and metelbenders go sliding, unable to see where the street starts and the ice ends.

_Why don't you Po Po's leave this to use, huh? These Fire Crackers are on our Turf._ A moca colored, snowy-eyed gangster drawls, water whip at the ready.

"Why put these innocent people in danger?" Her mother demands, "Today was a holiday, and these Earth Kingdom civilians were just trying to enjoy their day!"

The waterbender laughs, flashing a gummy grin, "See Snake Eyes, we got nothing on you mud-slingers. It's just that when war is declared, we gotta defend our turf. It's just how we work."

"Yeah, well, you can either _leave now," _her mother flicks her metal cables,_ "_or claim a new turf behind bars!"

The humidity starts to drop from all the water freezing in the air, and Lin shivers.

The gangster says nothing, but motions by dipping his head down, and seems to nod something.

A second later Lin hears something whizzing right behind them, towered she and her mother.

"Mom, look out!" Lin has only a second to push Toph out of the way before two saber-tooth tipped icicles meet the delicate skin of her cheekbone and she goes down.

She feels something sticky on her face through her hazy vision, and something cold and hard as glass stuck in her skin. The last thing she hears before she blanks out is her mother's voice yelling her name, and the next time she opens her eyes, she's in a white-roomed hospital with a gauze tapped to the right side of her face.

It's the second time she wishes she could trade eyes with her mother.


End file.
